News

World Habitat Day 2013

The UN has designated the first Monday in October as the World Habitat Day. Nowadays the calendar is full of days celebrating special occasions, people, events or achievements. Perhaps there are too many and people can no longer remember when we celebrate what and why. But we should make an effort to understand and learn about those special days, for there was a reason to dedicate a whole day to it.

World Habitat Day aims to encourage people to look critically at the state of our town and cities and reflect on the basic human right to adequate shelter. Everyone is responsible for shaping the future of our urban spaces and we need to find ways of how we make people to realize that.

This year the World Habitat Day has been celebrated on 7th October, around the theme “Urban Mobility”. No-one can deny the importance of the issues of mobility and access to goods and services in our cities, especially in the times of rapid expansion. Good infrastructure and access encourage a shift towards more sustainable models of transportation as well as change in people’s habits and preferences.

Although the 2013 celebration day is over, the fight for better and more sustainable urban spaces is full on. You may have missed the opportunity to do something on 13 October, but you don’t have to miss the opportunity to do something now! Learn about the work of UN-HABITAT on http://www.unhabitat.org/categories.asp?catid=701 and then get inspired with 267 real stories to improve our lives in cities on http://www.imacitychanger.org/imacc/